Ben Nighthorse Campbell

Ben Nighthorse Campbell (13 April 1933-) was a member of the US House of Representatives (R-CO 3) from 3 January 1987 to 3 January 1993 (succeeding Michael L. Strang and preceding Scott McInnis) and US Senator from Colorado from 3 January 1993 to 3 January 2005 (succeeding Tim Wirth and preceding Ken Salazar).

Biography
Benny Campbell was born in Auburn, California in 1933, the son of a Cheyenne father and a Portuguese immigrant mother. Her father's alcoholism and his mother's constant struggles with tuberculosis led to Campbell and his sister being raised in Catholic orphanages. He served in the US Air Force from 1951 to 1953 during the Korean War, and he became a judo competitor, competing at the 1964 Summer Olympics in Tokyo (during which he broke his ankle). Campbell later took on the name "Nighthorse" after a name-giving ceremony at the Cheyenne reservation, and he went on to become a deputy sheriff in Sacramento County, California, coached the US National Judo Team, operated his own dojo in Sacramento, and taught gym and art at high school.

In November 1982, he was elected to the Colorado State Legislature as a Democratic Party member. In 1986, he was elected to the US House of Representatives, and he was known to vote like a Republican during his time in the US Congress. In 1995, the defeat of the US Senate's Balanced Budget Amendment led to his defection to the Republican Party. He identified as a moderate "Rockefeller Republican", and he retired from the Senate in 2005. He became a lobbyist and a lawyer after his retirement.